The new BUWOG customer and administrative centre will be built at Rathausstraße 1 by 2019. In the interest of transparent communication with locals and surrounding businesses, the BUWOG Group extended an invitation for shared discussion and dialogue at the location.
A good-size crowd: around 100 of those interested responded to the invitation
The foyer of the former data processing centre designed by Harry Glück was teeming with around 100 residents of the quarter and business people from the surrounding commercial locations – all of them having followed up on the BUWOG Group’s invitation. Following a short overview of the evening’s subject matter, the guests were welcomed by the district manager for the first district, Mr Markus Figl, and the district manager of the eighth district, Ms Monika Mickel-Göttfert.
Directly afterward, experts including the project manager, architect and ombudsman provided a detailed report on the project planning and further steps. First, the demolition of the as yet existing building will begin in mid-August. This phase will last until around the end of the year or, after a winter break, until spring 2018.
During this period the former data processing centre will be carried away piece by piece – as carefully as possible, for a part of the building materials are designated for reasonable recycling. Then construction of the new customer and administrative building will begin in spring 2018.
In the course of constructing the new building residents’ needs will be incorporated and taken into account: for example, the visual axis on Josefstädterstraße toward St. Stephan’s Cathedral will remain unchanged because the new customer centre will not only have one floor less than the former data processing centre; it will also be smaller in area – news that was visibly pleasing to the guests in attendance. Furthermore, the new building will have parking on the underground levels and a local supplier, thus ensuring opportunities for everyday shopping needs. Completion is planned for the end of 2019, with the new customer and administrative centre then moving in at the start of 2020. After the presentation concluded, guests had the chance to present their questions and personal concerns to the relevant project contacts in charge of demolition and construction.
Raw materials to be returned to the cycle
As part of the demolition, sustainability will also play an important role because there is intensive cooperation with “BauKarrusell”, a cooperative network of socioeconomic enterprises, and with the reuse platform “Harvest Map”. Furniture and interior components from the 1980s will be selectively assigned a new function.
For example, the old partitions from a seminar room at Rathausstraße 1 will soon be used in the big kitchen of the Magda Hotel (1020 Vienna). The cooperation will also enable the building materials to be shared: to this end there will be an assessment of what materials are built into the existing structure and in which quantities – e.g. glass, concrete and various types of aluminium.
During demolition, all of the valuable raw materials will be manually sorted on location by BauKarussell. Thus the demolition on Rathausstraße provides an ideal space for a meaningful employment project with added value for the environment; that is because this process will result in around 90% of the building being returned to the materials cycle as secondary material by means of a treatment centre at the edge of the city.
Information is provided from the experts here
Further information on the demolition of the former data processing centre and on the construction of the new BUWOG customer and administrative centre can be found under www.rathausstrasse1.at – here we will keep you informed about the project’s progress and you will also have the chance to read the documents from the information event as well as to direct your questions and suggestions about the project specifically to us. As ombudsman, architect Thomas Romm will also be available to you as a contact.
Pictures: BUWOG / Martina Draper
